Buddha: After my nirvana, if there are people who will have the opportunity to hear subtle scriptures of the Mahayana like this one [Nirvana Sutra] and respond with faith and reverence, know that for 100,000 kalpas into the future they will not fall into any unfortunate rebirths.

BDK volume one, trans. by Blum, p. 175

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

SeekerNo1000003 wrote:As though they pass through perils guarded by a hero
Even those weighed down with dreadful wickedness
Will instantly be freed through having bodhichitta
Who then would not place his trust in it?

Bodhicharyavatara, 1.13

I would like to add the commentary by Ringu Tulku re this verse:

"Some of the worst negative deeds are: giving up the Dharma; causing harm towards the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; and accumulating the five heinous deeds, such as killing your father, killing your mother and so on. Here, Shantideva says that even if you have committed the worst of these negative deeds—the worst negative deeds that you can imagine—and you have these results coming to you, if you take the help of bodhicitta, then immediately you get the bodhicitta into your mind stream, and it is as if you are going through a very dangerous place where there are lots of robbers and other people who want to harm you, and you immediately find a very strong, brave person to help you. So then you can go through these very dangerous places without any harm because you have this strong guard. It is said that even if you meet the vengeful son of a man you have murdered, you will be protected from the son’s vengeance by having this strong guard. In the same way, if you go through lots of difficulties and bad karma, having bodhicitta not only protects you from falling into lower states, but it also prevents you from taking the negative karma that you experience in a negative way. With bodhicitta, you can even transform the negative experience so that it actually becomes positive."

When the Buddha spoke Dharma and taught people according to their needs, he was like a physician dispensing the right medicine to each patient. Therefore, one cannot say of any part of his teachings that they are right or wrong per se.

Master Hua

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

Again, everything is in the nature of mind, the mind is in the nature of
emptiness, and emptiness is in the nature of primordial emptiness, devoid
of conceptual elaborations. This is transcendent wisdom. Since this is
stated to be the Buddha, no divinity is greater than the Buddha. To attain
perfection as the ultimate divinity—the great Buddha—is the completion
stage.

From Book of Kadam: The Jewel Garland of Dialogues, Chapter 3

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

But why do the Bodhisattvas, once they have undertaken the
resolution to obtain supreme Bodhi, take such a long time to obtain it?
Because supreme Bodhi is very difficult to obtain: one needs a great
accumulation of knowledge and merit, and of innumerable heroic works
in the course of three asamkhyeya kalpas.

One would understand that the Bodhisattva searches out this Bodhi
so difficult to obtain, if this Bodhi were the sole means of arriving at
deliverance; but such is not the case. Why then do they undertake this
infinite labor?

For the good of others, because they want to become capable of
pulling others out of the great flood of suffering.
But what personal good do they find in the good of others?
The good of others is their own good, because they desire it.

Who believes this?
In truth, persons devoid of pity and who think only of themselves
believe with difficulty in the altruism of the Bodhisattvas; but
compassionate persons believe in it easily. Don't we see that certain
persons, confirmed in the absence of pity, find pleasure in the suffering
of others even when it is not to their benefit? In the same way one must
admit that the Bodhisattvas, confirmed in pity, find pleasure in doing
good to others without any egoistic concerns. Don't we see that certain
persons, ignorant of the true nature of the conditioned dharmas (i.e., the
samskaras) that constitute their pretended "self," are attached to these
dharmas through the force of habit, as completely devoid of personality
as these dharmas are, and suffer a thousand pains by reason of this
attachment? In the same way one must admit that the Bodhisattvas,
through the force of habit, detach themselves from the dharmas that
constitute the pretended "self," no longer consider these dharmas as
"me" and "mine," increase compassionate solicitude for others, and are
ready to suffer a thousand pains because of this solicitude.

In a few words, there is a certain category of persons, who,
indifferent to what concerns them personally, are happy through the
well-being of others, and are unhappy through the suffering of
others. For them, to be useful to others is to be useful to themselves. A
stanza says, "An inferior person searches out, by all means, his personal
well-being; a mediocre person searches out the destruction of suffering,
not well-being, because well-being is the cause of suffering; an excellent
person, through his personal suffering, searches out the well-being and
the definitive destruction of the suffering of others, for he suffers from
the suffering of others.

Vasubandhu,Kosha Pruden tr. vol. II:481

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

I, the unworthy Shr Syan, a lowly, ordinary Sanghan, weeping blood and bowing to the ground, exhort the great assembly and present-day men and women of pure faith: please listen and consider what I am about to say.

We have heard that resolving the mind is foremost among the essential doors for entering the Path, and that making vows is first among the crucial matters in cultivation. By making vows, we can save living beings. By resolving our minds, we can realize the Buddhas’ Path. If we do not make our resolve great and our vows firm, we will remain on the turning wheel throughout as many kalpas as there are particles of dust. Any cultivation will be only bitter toil done in vain.

As the Flower Adornment Sutra says, “If you forget your resolve upon Bodhi, your cultivation of even wholesome practices becomes the karma of demons.” this it is clear that forgetting our resolve upon Bodhi is even worse than having never made the resolve.

Thus we know that anyone wishing to study the vehicle of the Thus Come Ones must first make the vows of a Bodhisattva without delay.

Excerpt From: Hsuan Hua. Exhortation to Resolve Upon Bodhi.

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

If you have attachment to this life, you are not a religious person.
If you have attachment to the world of existence, you do not have renunciation.
If you have attachment to your own purpose, you do not have enlightenment mind.
If grasping arises, you do not have the view.

Excerpt From: Sakya Trizin. Freeing the Heart and Mind. iBooks.

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

Faith causes the faculties to become pure, bright, and sharp.
The power of faith is indestructibly solid.
Faith enables eternal destruction of the root of the afflictions.
Faith enables exclusive progression toward Buddha’s qualities.

Through faith, one remains free of attachment to objective realms,
leaves difficulties far behind and becomes free of them.
Faith enables one to step over the demons' road.
and reveals the path of the unsurpassable liberation.

Faith is the indestructible seed of meritorious qualities.
Faith enables the growth of the bodhi tree.
Faith enables the growth of the most supreme wisdom.
Faith is able to reveal all buddhas.

Avatamsaka Sutra, ch. 12

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

Especially not-knowing through ignorance is explained as a great fault
Because the root of all faults is ignorance itself.
Deluded in relation to cause and effect, to what is to be abandoned and its antidotes,
One behaves without care.
Not knowing virtue and negativity one spontaneously engages in all kleśas without concern.
Therefore one constantly purchases the three lower realms.
The land is filled with fools like these.

23. [All] the existing virtues, accumulated by the entirety of samsara and nirvana, are dedicated.

It is said: "The roots of virtue of the entirety of samsara and nirvana are dedicated".
One should take possession of the entirety, i.e. the base of a sugata and those virtues
That are accumulated in the three times by the six kinds [of beings] in samsara
And by the buddhas, bodhisattvas, sravakas and pratyekabuddhas in nirvana,
And dedicate [the entirety with the words] from The Tenth Dedication of Vajra Victory Banner:

[By] all the virtues of all beings that exist,
That have have been achieved, that will be achieved and that are achieved now,, just as [Samanta]bhadra who is on the bhumis,
So that all [beings] at all times may reach [the state of Samanta]bhadra as well.
One should train the [dedication] of the Jinaputras:
Gathering completely the entirety of all existing [virtues] without exception
And the basis of a [sugata],
One should by all means dedicate those,
So that [all beings might] obtain the strength of a sugata.

24. One should also dedicate to the buddhas and the lamas.

It is said: "One should also dedicate to the buddhas and the lamas".
The fruit appears in the same way as the cause; this is the nature of phenomena.
There is no need for sealing, dedicating to the perfect buddhas
And the glorious lamas so that their defilements may be purified,
But by dedicating for their wish, for the accomplishment of the benefit of [all] beings,
That [those wishes] are without obstacles and are achieved at once,
By that, the roots of virtue of all beings, oneself etc. are accomplished.
This is the most essential point.
Therefore one should diligently engage in such a dedication.

Now, the Bodhisattvas in the assembly were only such as
had obtained illumination. They had obtained the imprint of
the mental patterning of dharanl; they had obtained samadhi,
and were endowed with the five super-knowledges. They had
gained the ability of clear retention; they were free from artifice,
free from the thought to gain profit from knowledge, and free
from attachment. They taught the Dharma without being
distracted by worldly things. They had reached the perfection
of patient conviction with respect to the profound Dharma, and
obtained fearlessness. They had completely passed beyond the
reach of Mara’s actions, had cast off the defilement of karma,
and had obtained freedom from doubt concerning the nature of
all dharmas.

The Fortunate Aeon p. 3 & 5

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

In order to develop compassion, we use logical reasoning. We reflect on the importance of giving rise to compassion in our mind. Sometimes the mere effort of giving rise to compassion might bring us to naturally feel compassionate toward all sentient beings. So through deliberate effort, we gradually develop a compassionate tendency that becomes second nature to us.

Right now, we may not have this unsullied compassion and therefore, we have to create, to fabricate a tendency to feel it. And then, when we are familiarised with it, it develops into uncontrived compassion, effortless compassion. Through this deliberate act of moulding our mind to become compassionate, compassion will eventually arise spontaneously.

So, if one is to practice the Dharma, it not necessary to try to learn everything. If we practice compassion, then we have the teaching, the qualities, the basis, the foundation, the stages leading to Enlightenment, all in the palm of our hand. We don’t need to do much else when we practice compassion.

Khenchen Appey

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

Some die as they leave their mother's womb,
Some die old and infirm, some in their prime.
Some are burned by fire, some swept off by floods,
Some are killed by enemies, some struck down by thieves,
Some of little faith pass away in despair.
Who does not die once they are born?

[Jetsun Milarepa's] disciples said to him one day: "Jetsun, all the deeds that we see you doing are beyond the understanding of ordinary beings. Precious Jetsun, were you not an incarnation of Vajradhara, or of a Buddha or Bodhisattva right from the start?"

"If you take me for an incarnation of Vajradhara, or of a Buddha or Bodhisattva," the Jetsun replied, "it shows you have faith in me—but you could hardly have a more mistaken view of the Dharma! I started out by heaping up extremely negative acts, using spells and making hail. I soon realized that there was no way that I would not be reborn in hell. So I practised Dharma with relentless zeal. Thanks to the profound methods of the Secret Mantrayana, I have developed exceptional qualities in myself. Now, if you cannot develop any real determination to practise the Dharma, it is because you do not really believe in the principle of cause and effect. Anyone with a bit of determination could develop courage like mine if they had that true and heartfelt confidence in the effects of their actions. Then they would develop the same accomplishments—and people will think that they too are manifestations of Vajradhara, or of a Buddha or Bodhisattva."

Words of my Perfect Teacher, 1998 edition, p.129-130

"All the suffering of the lower realms, whatever difficulty and unhappiness we may experience as human beings, as well as every other possible suffering of the three realms of existence, have their origin in cherishing ourselves more than others."

The so-called two Madhyamaka [traditions] of Svātantrika and Prāsaṅgika are known in Tibet. I did not see explanations of this designation and terminology in the Indian śāstras.

The necessity of the enumerable ultimate in realising shunyata:

First of all, since the arising of the gnosis that is free from the four extremes is not possible for those who have the habit of grasping at things since beginningless time, it is first necessary to generate insight, i.e., a mental state that is distinguished by the mere non-existence of all things on the absolute level.

...

Non-existent on the absolute level, undeceptively existent on the conventional level... such an unimpaired establishment of the two satyas on their respective levels is definitely beneficial for the beginner’s mind.

The actual nature of the non-duality of the two truths:

But, considering the two characteristics of existence and non-existence separately, in the way [that things] “exist on the conventional level and do not exist on the absolute level,” is not established with respect to the ultimate mode of existence.

Precisely, the form etc., of whatever appears is empty and though it is empty, this itself appears as form etc.

The meditation on emptiness a la Gorampa:

Thus, the four extremes are not abolished instantly by the analytical meditation of ordinary people who investigate the mode of existence, but, after the four are refuted in an alternating way, an experience in the realm of coalescence, i.e., the meaning of [being] without reference point, arises.

Although sravakas and pratyekabuddhas have the immeasurable
love and compassion whereby they think, "If only beings
could have happiness and be free from suffering," these non-
Mahayana followers do not think, "I will take on the responsibility
to remove the suffering and to provide the happiness of all living
beings."

Therefore, you must develop wholehearted resolve that
surpasses all other courageous thoughts. It is not enough to think,
"If only all living beings could have happiness and could be free
from suffering." You must also wholeheartedly assume the responsibility
of producing this yourself. Consequently, you should distinguish
between these ways of thinking. The Questions of Sagaramati
Sutra (Sagaramati-pariprccha-sutra) states:

Suppose, Sagaramati, a householder or a merchant had only one
son, and this son was attractive, beloved, appealing, and pleasing.
Suppose that because the son was young and playful, he fell
into a pit of filth. When his mother and relatives noticed that he
had fallen into it, they cried out, lamented, and grieved, but they
did not enter the pit and take him out. [298] When the boy's father
arrived and saw that his son had fallen into this pit of filth,
however, his only thought was to save him, and without revulsion,
jumped into the pit of filth and pulled him out.

To make the connection between the meaning and the parts of the
analogy, the pit of filth represents the three realms; the only child
represents living beings; and the mother and other relatives represent
sravakas and pratyekabuddhas who see beings fall into cyclic
existence, grieve and lament, but are not able to save them. The
merchant or householder represents the bodhisattva. Hence this is
saying that sravakas and pratyekabuddhas have the compassion which
is like that of the mother for her beloved only son who has fallen
into a pit of filth. Therefore develop a wholehearted resolve that
assumes the responsibility of liberating all beings based on compassion.

Je Tsongkhapa, Great Treatise 2:32-33

Distrust everyone in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
Nietzsche

Similarly, the Descent into Lanka Sutra also says that, for the time being, one is taught mind-only, but finally having thoroughly passed beyond that, one is taught the middle without appearance, and that, having also passed beyond this, one is taught the middle with appearance, and it says that if one does not arrive at that, one has not seen the profound meaning of the great vehicle:

Relying on mind-only,
One does not imagine external objects.
Relying on non-appearance,
One passes beyond mind-only.

Relying on observing reality,
One passes beyond non-appearance.
If yogis dwell in non-appearance,
They do not perceive the great vehicle.

Dolpopa, from the supplications entitled General Commentary on the Doctrine, trans. Cyrus Stearns

[A.1. Respectfully bowing to the masters because they realize and teach the intent of the first Dharma wheel]

I bow at the feet of the masters
who carefully teach that all
conditioned entities are impermanent,
unstable, changeable phenomena,
like a mountain waterfall, like a cloud,
like lightning, and like dew on a blade of grass.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach that the nature of suffering
is the same for the entire three realms,
like being caught in a pit of fire
or a vicious viper's mouth,
or like a bee circling inside a pot.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach that people who cling
to the impure body as pure
are the same as ignorant children who like and desire a vase of vomit
beautified with ornaments.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who cause sentient beings who like
samsara to feel revulsion and sadness
toward the impermanent and the impure,
and teach them the four noble truths for entering
the path of empty and peaceful selflessness.

[2. Respectfully bowing to the masters because they correctly realize and teach the intent of the second Dharma wheel]

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach that all phenomena
merely arise from conditions,
without any self, sentient beings,
soul, or creator, and are like a dream,
an illusion, a mirage, or an echo.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who clearly teach that objects appear
to be external, but are merely
the habitual propensities of mind,
and that even mind, intellect,
and consciousness are mere names,
mere designations, just emptiness like space.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach that the aggregates of form
and so forth are like foam, water bubbles,
a mirage, and so forth,
and who teach that the sensory bases
are the same as an empty town,
the constituents the same as vicious vipers.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach that all phenomena
of existence and nirvana are birthless and ceaseless,
free from going, coming, and remaining,
without extremes and middle,
each empty of essence.

[3. Respectfully bowing to the masters because they correctly realize and teach the intent of the third Dharma wheel]

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach that, like a butter lamp within a vase,
the treasure of a pauper, and so forth,
the sugata essence, luminosity,
or the dharmakaya exists within the sheath
of the relative, incidental aggregates.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who carefully distinguish, "All imagined
and dependent phenomena are nonexistent,
but the fully established true nature
is never nonexistent,"
teaching what transcends existence
and nonexistence, and eternalism and nihilism.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach, "All relative phenomena
are merely the dependent origination
of cause and result, but the self-arisen
absolute transcends dependent origination,"
teaching the difference between primordial
awareness that arises from conditions,
and what is self-arisen.

[C.] Respectfully bowing to the masters because they correctly realize and teach the intent of all three Dharma wheels]

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach the intent of the Dharma
wheel of the four truths,
the Dharma wheel of no characteristics,
and the Dharma wheel of certainty in the absolute.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who, with the nectar stream of the three wheels
in sequence, clean the three coarse, subtle,
and extremely subtle stains,
so the sublime jewel of the dharmakaya
separated from stain is obtained.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach people who accept
external objects that everything is mind,
who the Madhyamaka of no appearance
to those who are attached to mind,
and who teach the Madhyamaka
of perfect appearance
to those who accept no appearance.

I bow at the feet of the masters
who teach inferior [disciples]
the Dharma of cause and result,
who teach those who adhere
to existence that everything is empty,
and who teach the sugata essence of luminosity
to those who accept nothing.